


Memento Mori

by ColeTReed



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Other, THOU ART I MOTHERFUCKER, it's a persona au, persona 4 au, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-30
Updated: 2014-10-30
Packaged: 2018-02-23 04:51:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2534795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColeTReed/pseuds/ColeTReed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lindsay Klein has just moved to Spir, the last haven of the natural world.  With the rest of the planet moving onto technological marvels, things like "grass" or "trees" aren't as important when compared to innovation.  Living with her Uncle Joel and Cousin Ray, Lindsay will soon meet a wide array of colorful friends and allies.  Though as she adjusts to a "peaceful" life, a serious of devious events will throw everything into chaos.  How will she and her friends be able to bear these new burdens?  More importantly, how will they be able to fight the darkness that washes over them?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Principium

Listen to our story.

This may be the last chance I get to tell it.

It all started in the Spring. I remember that much, because the moonlilies were blooming the night I came to the small town of Spir.

And...

I think that was the first time I ever met-...

Well. That’s a story in and of itself.

For now?

Let’s start from the beginning.

++++++

A passenger train, the last of its kind in the now futuristic realm that was known as the United States, was rolling through the state of Florida at an alarming rate. Towering skyscrapers had long since overtaken the natural flora of the land, and only a few trees remained as props for tourists to gawk at. At least, that was what the world was when the train had left. As it came closer and closer to its destination, the metal and steel gave way to green and brown.

Sitting by her lonesome on the ghost-like passenger train was a teenage woman, with a monumentally sized pair of DJ earphones covering a large portion of her face. They were the “old” style, like people would have worn in the 90's or the early 2000's. Their blood-red coloring clashed against the woman's own pale red hair and porcelain-colored skin.

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, as her typical figure rustled the faux-leather of the seats. The split-sleeve of her dark blue blouse got tangled under her bottom, forcing her to lift up and remove them.

Sighing softly to herself as the charge in her headphones gave out, the woman peeked out at the world around her as she moved them into her lap.

Spir.

A town that boasted a whopping population of 1,000 and a few stray dogs. Unlike the rest of the world that had undergone the technological revolution in the later years of 2010’s, Spir boasted a “natural” escape from the world. Even in the year 2075, there were still towns that tried so hard to stay locked in the past. A lot like the Vatican had been, before the worldwide fall of religion and the denouncement of all things unscientific.

Her face looked on in awe as she saw a strip mall fly past her eyes. One of those historical places that all the ancient sitcom teens had to go to in order to shop for clothes and goods. Days before Amazon's drone delivery were certainly a novelty.

“Well that's... Interesting. I should take pictures for my friends back home!” the woman said happily. Reaching into a chocolate-colored messenger bag, the woman retrieved what appeared to be a thin pane of glass. Pressing her thumb into it, however, the glass awoke in a mess of cyan colors and buttons. “Welcome Back. Lindsay” was displayed on the new screen. Quickly, she pressed a camera-like icon that flew above the glass. In a flash of light, a sphere erupted from the glass and covered the region in digital panes. The entire mile-wide radius was captured on her screen in a matter of moments. A panoramic hologram lifted from the glass, and Lindsay smiled as she spun her way through it. She could touch the foliage of the trees, and interact with them as though they were real.

“Caiti will love this! Ares, would you please send this to her?” Lindsay asked.

The hologram picture faded. An image of a cartoonish-looking blue butler bowed before her. He had a certain handsomeness about him, like an anime character from one of her favorite late-night shows. His hair was starlight silver, and his body was a 10/10 masterpiece easily. “Of course. Shall there be anything else I can do to assist you?” he asked.

Lindsay nodded. “Yes, can you please tell me when we'll be arriving at Spir station?” she asked politely.

Thinking for just a moment, Ares rose up and smiled politely. “Yes, ma'm. This train will be arriving at Spir Station in 10 minutes. Shall I inform your parents of your arrival and call your Uncle?” he asked.

“Please?” Lindsay asked, smiling at her personal cellaurdian. A “Cell Phone Guardian”, one of that genius kid Harper Ramsey's inventions, the cellaurdian was a completely customizable holographic “keeper” of anyone's cell phone. It protected private data and insured that nobody could access data without Lindsay's permission. It was the latest “thing” and was selling like hotcakes.

Ares shut his eyes. After a few moments, he bowed to Lindsay once more. “All tasks have been completed. Is there anything else I can do for you?” he inquired politely.

Shaking her head, Lindsay began shuffling her bags. “No thank you Ares, that's all,” she said.

The screen went dark, and Ares saluted Lindsay as he vanished. Lindsay stuffed her cell phone into her messenger bag, as she stood up and grabbed the railing. She began making her way towards the front of the train, where the passengers would soon exit into the town trapped in the past.

“Well Lindsay… Get ready for the ride of your life!” she said to herself eagerly.

As she moved down the train carts, a blue butterfly seemed to follow her reflections in the glass.

As did many black blobs, with dark claws attempting to grab at her fruitlessly.

  
  


+++++

Standing outside the Spir Station, two men were huffing angrily at each other. They were both clearly uncomfortable due to the Florida heat, and even more uncomfortable with each other’s prescence.

The taller of the two was an aging male in his middle forties. He had a salt and pepper short-cut black hairstyle that complemented his matured facial expression. Like a beanpole, his figure wasn't much to look at, and could easily be pushed over with a light breeze. His style was unusual for a man of his age, wearing a t-shirt and shorts that would be more aptly worn by a college student. The man was barefoot.

Beside him, a much younger man in his later teens stood a full foot shorter than his partner. With a bronzed complexion, he was clearly descended from a hispanic nation of some sort. He wore a pair of thin-rimmed purple glasses and was fussing with his thick black hair. A noticeable sweat was dampening his face. Like the man beside him, he too was barefoot.

The short one huffed. “Joel, it's too hot! Can't we wait in the car?” he begged.

Joel shook his head. “Ray, this is your younger cousin Lindsay, have a little respect! She's come all this way to live with us for an entire year, so PLEASE try to be hospitable,” he begged, clasping his hands together tightly.

Rolling his eyes, Ray sighted. “What, is it my fault that her folks decided to go on a worldwide cruise? I have to get out in this nasty humidity because of THEM!? Where’d they go, I’d like to sned them a LOVELY postcard,” he shouted angrily.

“The sun will do you good!” Joel offered.

“The sun gives you cancer! It's in all the news reports!” Ray shot back.

“Bring a parasol,” Joel retorted.

“FINE, but it better double as a gun, because I'll have to protect myself from all the rampant crime in the streets!” Ray yelled.

“Spir crime rate is at a national low,” Joel said quietly.

“There are wild animals out here!” Ray huffed.

“Quit watching the news so much, that shit will rot your brain. I swear, I don’t see how ANY of my genes made it into you. You’re 100% your mother, that’s all I know,” Joel replied, rubbing a newly forming headache that was forming in the back of his skull.

The doors to the station began to open slowly as Joel and Ray kept bickering with one and other. As Lindsay stepped out into the humid atmosphere, Joel slapped Ray on the back of the head and leaned into his ear. “Shut up and act normal for an hour and I'll buy you that Persona 9 game you keep whining about! Got it?” Joel said in a rushed voice.

Ray and Joel both smiled insincerely as Lindsay rushed up towards them, rolling her luggage behind her and throwing her messenger bag across her chest. “UNCLE JOEL! COUSIN RAY! SO GOOD TO SEE YOU GUYS!” she yelled, hugging the two of them tightly by the neck.

Joel hugged back as Ray began convulsing at the human interaction facing him.

“Lindsay, glad we finally got you out here for once! As nice as it is to visit you guys in the big city all the time, it's quite a long trip! But I guess you understand that now!” Joel expressed. He offered his hand to take Lindsay's luggage, which she politely refused.

“I know! I've always wanted to come visit the City Lost in Time! It's amazing! Did you know I actually had to pay in cash here? They don't take cellardian fund transfers! Oh, and just LOOK at all the plantlife! It’s so gorgeous, I don’t know WHY we did away with all of it in Lyr! Then again, I guess my hometown is just… Weird!” Lindsay said in amazement.

Ray groaned as Joel pushed him away. “Lindsay... Just a fair warning... Don't call Spir that in public. We... We really hate it when tourists call it that. Honestly, we’re just trying to live our lives here and not get all caught up in the techno marvels,” he offered, laughing nervously under his breath.

Nodding, Lindsay kept glancing all the way around her. Palm trees were everywhere, the roads weren't paved in neo-concrete plastic, and everything smelled like... Smells!

“Wow... This place is amazing! It's way better than the pictures I saw online!” Lindsay exclaimed, turning back to Joel. She was spinning out of excitement. “Thanks so much for letting me stay with you Joel! I REALLY didn't want to live alone for a year, and I REALLY didn't want to go with mom and dad. And I get to come HERE! It's like.. Amazing!” she said brightly.

“Stay here for most of your life and see if you say that,” Ray mumbled under his breath.

Joel socked Ray in the ankle softly with his foot and chuckled loudly. “Well... I guess we should get going! There's a lot to see in Spir, and I'd hate for you to spend your first day just here at the station!” he iterated.

Nodding, Lindsay sat her bag down to her right. “Right! But... I've got to do something first! I've always wanted to try this, and I'm so excited!” she squealed.

Running away from her uncle and cousin, Lindsay made her way across the blacktop parking area and into the thick green grass that ran along the train tracks. She fell backwards into it, letting her head hit the soft earth for the first time in 17 years. She shut her eyes and took the deepest breath imaginable. Away from the hygienic city of her birth, the smell of non-synthetic air was remarkable. There was life in it, or at least, it was the best way she could describe the feeling.

Slowly, she opened her eyes. She gasped to herself as a neon-blue butterfly seemed to flay its wings back and forth on the top of her chest.

“Lindsay! You're uh.. You're on the grass! Right next to the sign that says... You know... Keep off the grass?” Joel said.

In a quick embarrassment, Lindsay looked away from the butterfly and was met with a sign that said, sure enough, “Keep off the Grass”. Beside it was an older gentleman staring at her in the face. He was the epitome of “Grandpa”, complete with snow-white hair, a chubby psysique, and a wrinkly face. His badge read “Cin Reed”.

“Oh! I'm so sorry!” Lindsay shouted, immediately lifting herself off the grounds. The butterfly had vanished, although she'd frankly forgotten all about it.

Old man Reed huffed. “This here is PRECIOUS land. It's some of the last grass we got in these parts, you.. You... Young'un! Respect your earth, or you'll regret it!” he answered angrily. He rose his hand in the air, pointing angrily at Lindsay.

Laughing heartily, Joel came to Lindsay's side. “Sorry about that Cin, she didn’t realize. This is my niece, Lindsay Klein. She'll be staying with us for a year. Lindsay, this is Cin Reed, the caretaker for most of Spir. He has a doctorate in biology, botany, and just about anything regarding plant and animal life. He takes care of Spir’s lands and keeps them healthy. But don't call him Dr. Reed!” he said in an upbeat tone.

Cin grumbled under his breath and only reluctantly held his hand out to Lindsay. “Nice to meetcha Miss Klein. Don't trample on my lawn again and we'll get along just fine,” he said bluntly.

“Promise!” Lindsay replied, sweating nervously and feeling remotely frightened of the eldergly gentlemen. She visualized him suplexing the nearby train and hitting her with it for some reason. She'd been watching too much Magical Wrestling Champion Sabin lately.

Lindsay shook Mr. Reed's hand firmly. As she did, she felt a jolt of static rush through her hands.

“Ah!” she exclaimed, pulling her hand back away from his.

+++++

A Spir tour from a local wasn't exactly what she'd envisioned. Lindsay had seen a “grocer”, a “Wal-Mart”, and “that goddamn game store” where Ray had gotten some sort of video game for “shutting the fuck up”. There was no visiting the world-reknown rose garden, or the botanical spa, or even the historical home of Ace Detective Vav. So much that could have been done, but all avoided due to being closed for the weekend hours. Disappointing, but true.

Thankfully she'd have free time later in the weekend to explore on her own before school started on Monday.

After dinner in Joel's cozy two story home, Lindsay had decided to turn in for the night. In the room next to Ray's, Lindsay's family had already set up her room.

A large queen size bed, completely covered in homemade quilts that she assumed Joel's late wife had sewn. Fluffy pillows were neatly arranged at the head of the bed, almost nitpickingly so.

Various other furniture items, such as a dresser, nightstand, and other necessities had already been arranged neatly in her room.

The window to the room was closed tightly, but gave a perfect view of the outside world. Even with all the lights turned off, the light of the moon would still keep her room entirely lit. Excitedly, Lindsay rushed to the window and flung it open. Ignoring the sticky humidity of a Florida spring, she threw her head out of the window. She took a deep breath of the night air and took in the sight of the small town atmosphere. Flowers all across the city seemed to be glowing in the night sky.

“Moonlilies!” Lindsay exclaimed eagerly. She turned to the dresser, where her cell phone was sitting. “Ares, take virtual pictures and send them to Caiti immediately! She’ll just die!” she said happily.

“Yes Miss Klein,” Ares responded, as the glass case began scanning the nearby regions and mailing the virtual data. She could see the virtual panes gathering the visual data all around Joel’s house.

Taking a deep breath of the fresh night air, Lindsay hummed quietly under her breath.

The whole world was peaceful at last. Away from her parents, away from her school, and definitely away from-

“Time never waits. It delivers all equally to the same end,” a deep voice boomed.

Lindsay jumped by a mile and immediately scanned her room. There was nobody inside. She swore that she’d heard someone, and KNEW it was near. Her body twitched.

“You, who wish to safeguard the future, however limited it may be…” the deep voice continued.

Slamming the window shut, Lindsay clutched her chest. It was booming at a hundred miles an hour. “Who’s there?!” she demanded to know. Picking up her nearby desk lamp, she held it like a blunt weapon.

“You will be given one year;”

Spinning around, Lindsay slammed the lamp into where she thought the voice had been coming from. Instead, she put a hole into a perfectly good wall. Her eyes went wild. “Who’s there!? Answer me or I’m going to beat the crap out of you!” she belted out.

A softly glowing hand touched her shoulder. In an instant, all of her fear seemed to melt away. Her eyes began to droop slowly, and her hands lost their grip on her weapon. The lamp fell to the floor with a clang.

“Go forth without flater, with your heart as your guide,” the voice finished. The invisible hand melted into Lindsay, as the outside of her body began to glow in a faint blue.

She collapsed to the floor, slamming her body into the cushioned carpet.

“No one can escape time. It all delivers us to the same end. And so… It begins.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Umbrae

Slowly, Lindsay’s eyes fluttered open.  A blur of dark unconciousness soon gave way to what appeared to be a hotel lobby.  She could hear the sounds of countless voices coming and going in the region just behind her.  Everything she could see was fuzzy and full of static, like a bad satellite reception.  

Eventually, though, some things did become visible.

Blue couches with flawless “V’s” sewn into the back cushions on them.  Blue walls adorned with bright white paintings of various flowers and skyscrapers intertwining with one and other in a spiral-like-pattern.  A blue table was right in front of her, covered in a large number of cards.  They had blue masks as their backside design, like a playing card.  

As she became more and more aware, Lindsay clutched the back of her head tightly.  A throbbing bruise was growing at an alarming rate from where she’d hit her head falling down.

“Ow…  Ow ow ow!” Lindsay mumbled, as her senses seemed to rush back to her.  Her memories came back at an even more alarming rate.

Panic struck.  

Her eyes went wide as she did a double take of her surroundings.  

“Oh God…  This is not good…  This is like the start to a bad Lifetime movie, and I don’t like it!” Lindsay said, clutching her chest tightly.  She tried to stand, but her legs felt as though they were full of lead. Moving was not possible.  Everything below her waist was numb.

Fading into view, just in front of her, was a short man with a considerably large nose.  He had elf-like ears, a balding head, and bushy white hair puffing out of his ears.  This man had a crooked smile, like a cheshire cat, and was dressed smartly in a well-tailored suit.

Just behind him, another male figure seemed to form out of darkness.  In a blue formal workwear like a busboy would own, complete with blue hat, he was a towering figure, easily six feet or more in height.  His face was veiled in a thick mask, half black and half white.  She could barely make out the symbols embellished on the outside of the mask, but recognized them as some brand of religious symbology from her history textbooks.

The man with the large nose held out his arms.  “Welcome, my dear friend, to the Velvet Room!  Only those special enough and with a strong enough heart can enter this hallowed place, and only those bound by a contract can enter at will.  This place exists between dream and reality, and in between mind and matter.  My name is Igor, and I am the master of this domain,” he said in a warm, almost fatherly voice.

Igor’s assistant bowed to Lindsay.  “I am Facade, Igor’s personal assistant and keeper of the Compendium,” he bellowed in a dark voice.  A voice almost exactly as the one she’d heard in her room.

“You!  You were the one talking to me in my room!” Lindsay shouted, pointing her finger angrily at him.  

Facade chuckled.  

Igor sighed.  “I do apologize.  My assistant here is not as…  Polite as my others were.  He is new, please forgive him.  In the meantime, I am glad that you have come!  We have much to discuss and little time to discuss it,” he said matter-of-factly.

Cocking her head, Lindsay glanced around the Velvet Room.  She tried to look for an exit, only to find that there were no doors in the Velvet Room.  It was just…  There.  

“We live in a dark time, my dear guest.  Humanity has moved on, forgetting so easily the task in which they were given!  No longer are they protecting the world, but rather, only use it to satisfy their needs and wants out of life.  The earth, angered by this, has given way and allowed for Shadows to enter your domain and across the barrier between realms.  Shadows which will turn your world asunder, if given free reign,” Igor explained.

“Shadows?” Lindsay asked curious.

Igor chuckled.  “You will learn of them soon enough.  For now, however, all I ask is that you listen,” he said, waving his hands across the table.  The cards magically shuffled themselves, and the centermost card flipped up.  A blackness covered the other side of the card, unable to make out the figure underneath it.  “Soon, there will come a time when you will sign a contract with me.  When that time comes, your strength of will shall burst forth,” he said.

Utterly confused, Lindsay shook her head.  “Listen… You’re not making any sense to me!  Shadows?  My world being torn asunder?  Contracts?!  What is this, a bad retro video game?!” she shrieked.

Facade sighed.  “Perhaps it is best that we allow her to witness all of this for herself?  It is a lot for a human to understand,” he asked.

Igor nodded.  “Yes…  That is indeed how most of our guests have to experience it,” he said defeatedly.  Shaking his head, he turned back to Lindsay.  “Very well.  For now, I shall transport you home.  But once we meet again, I shall explain how my services will better assist you in the coming days,” he said.

Lindsay felt her head go light, and her blood tingle.  Similar to a fainting sensation, the Velvet Room blurred around her as she fell into a deep sleep.

+

Ray was busily twiddling his thumbs on his PSRX0, playing Persona 9 on his living room couch.  Like the rest of their house, everything was practical.  The couches were right by the windows, giving good light for reading or gaming.  A table was right in front of it, where the remote control, TV guide, and their streaming tablet were straightened up perfectly in a vertical line.  The tallest object was at the farthest right, and the smallest object was at the leftmost sides.

The kitchen, a small segment of the house to the side of the living room, was smoking with the smell of eggs cooking.  Joel was humming as he gently flipped over Ray’s omelette.

“Food’s ready,” Joel said loudly enough for Ray to hear.

“Thanks dad,” Ray replied, pausing his game and putting it on the table in front of him.  He neatly lined it up with the remote control, so that it perfectly sat next to them.  Running over to the kitchen counter, Ray pulled up a bar seat, and carefully straightened it to evenly line up with the edge of the wall.

Joel turned around, putting the omelette and plate in front of his son.  Unlike an ordinary omelette, this one was in the shape of a perfect square, equally long on each side.  “There ya go, my little buddy boy,” he said, kissing Ray on the forehead and ruffling his hair.

“Stop,” Ray ordered, slapping his father’s attempt at affection away.

Rolling his eyes, Joel went back to the stovetop.  “Say…  Your friend Michael is coming over today, right?” he asked.

Nodding, Ray began cutting the square omelette into even bite-sized pieces.  “Yeah.  He’s sleeping over too, if that’s okay?” he asked.

Joel smiled.  “Of course, Michael’s always welcome here!  Though…  Maybe you two could do me a favor?” he asked.

Finished with his cutting, Ray finally began forking pieces of omelette into his mouth.  “This is going to cost you,” he said.

“RAY, I’m just going to ask if you, Michael and Lindsay might hang out together?  She doesn’t know anyone here, and I don’t want her to go to school as a stranger,” Joel said, cracking several eggs and laying them over the skillet for his own meal.

Sighing, Ray shook his head.  “Dad, I love you and all, but that’s a tall order.  I hate every living being that isn’t you, Tina, and Michael, and Michael’s kind of in a soft spot right now,” he mumbled.

“Exactly!  So it’s a win-win!  You get to hate one less person, and Michael can stop moping around!” Joel replied, with a hopeful smile on his face.

Ray’s omelette was halfway eaten, forking each piece in a perfect format.  An “X” was taken out of the perfect square, like a Tic-Tac-Toe board.  “Okay, so did you even HEAR about the breakup?  Did you not see how devastated we was when-”

The upstairs door shut behind Lindsay, and the two men heard her making her way down the staircase.  As she entered the kitchen area, they were presented with Lindsay in a fluffy red bathrobe.

“Morning guys!  God, I had the WEIRDEST dream last night!” Lindsay exclaimed.  She stretched out, yawning loudly.  Attempting to plop down next to Ray, Joel grabbed her by the arm immediately.  

He chuckled nervously.  “Uh…  Weird request, can you sit on the stool two over from Ray?” Joel asked politely.

Ray’s head turned down out of shame.

Lindsay just shrugged.  “No problemo!” she answered, sitting two over from Ray.  She adjusted herself on the stool and made herself comfortable.  “So, about this dream!  You’ll never believe it!  I dreamt that-”

Joel cleared his throat.  “Uh, Lindsay, not to interrupt but…  Um…  Would you mind…  Not crossing your legs?” he said nervously.

Shooting him and odd look, Joel sighed.  

“It’s fine dad,” Ray mumbled.

Having finished his breakfast, he placed his fork in the exact center of the plate, linking it so that it was perfectly vertical.  He stood up and quietly excused himself from the breakfast nook.  

Shaking off the various thoughts going through her head, Lindsay smiled once more.  “Okay, so about my dream!  I dream that this weird old coot with a huge schnoz was in some Eiffel 65-styled hotel, and-”

Once more interrupted, the front door buzzer rang loudly.  

Lindsay’s face twitched angrily.  “I’ll get it!” she said angrily, deciding that it was apparently a higher power’s will to never have her dream told to anyone.  Hopping off the kitchen barstool, Lindsay strutted towards the front door.  “Oh, and whoever organized my bedroom was amazing!  Thanks guys, I had a GREAT night’s sleep!” she said happily.

A small grin formed on Ray’s face as he reclined back into the center of their couch, starting Persona 9 back up again.

Silently, Joel let out a deep sigh of relief.  

Reaching the front door, Lindsay undid the top bolt and pulled it open.  “Good morning!” she announced happily.

Standing in the doorframe was two individuals.

On the right was a bulky male about Ray’s age with dark red curly hair.  He was in a tank top and beach shorts, rippling with muscles.  A bright silver chain was around his neck, with two silver rings dangling off of it.  

To the left was an average woman with impeccably cared for hair.  She wore thick-framed red glasses, and had a stunning set of golden-brown eyes.  Unlike the slob next to her, this woman had a well-cared for brown sundress, and matching gold purse.  She had a well-toned figure.

“Oh yeah, you must be Ray’s cuz.  Forgot you were coming,” the male said.

Welcoming the two inside the home, Lindsay shut the door behind her.  “Yeah, I’m Lindsay Klein!  You are?” she asked.

Taking over the introductions, Joel threw his arms around both teens.  “Well, Lindsay, this is the state boxing champion!  And next to her is Michael Jones, Ray’s best friend!” he said.

The girl held out her hand to Lindsay.  “Name’s Tina!  Tina Dayton!  Hope you don’t mind I hitched a ride with Michael and just barged in?” she said, after shaking Lindsay’s hand and quickly turning to Joel.

Ray’s father shook his head.  “Of course not!  Glad to have you here ANYTIME.  Ray, your friends are here!” he announced.

Twitching, Ray shut off his game again and nervously put it back on the table.  At first, he tried to let it just hang on the table loosely.  Though within a second, he had to straighten it up against the remote control perfectly.

“I thought you had a family thing today Tina?  Did that get cancelled?” Ray asked, making his way towards his friends.

Sighing, Tina shook her head.  “The Ramseys came by and that took up all their ass kissing.  That genius kid Harper or whatshisface that invents all the crap?  Dad was literally GLUED to the kid.  I think I need to resurrect the ghost of  Chris Hanson, it was so bad!  Meanwhile, they didn’t even notice me escaping out the back door,” she replied.  

Ray smiled.  “Cool!  Well, I’ll go get dressed and we can go!” he exclaimed, pushing past both of his friends and running up the stairs.  He didn’t bother to even look at Lindsay.

“Rude much?” Tina said, rolling her eyes.  “Hey Lindsay, we’re going to the beach since Tourist season is over.  Want to join us?  I can give you ALL the great tips on Spir!” she exclaimed.

Lindsay nodded immediately, giving Tina a thumbs up.  “Yes!  I’ve got to get the scoop on all the stuff I don’t have back home!  Let me go change, and we’ll talk!” she said eagerly.  Rushing off like Ray had, Lindsay brushed past Michael and went up the staircase to her room.

“I see the resemblance,” Michael mumbled under his breath.

Tina giggled.  “Oh you betcha,” she said.

Sighing, Joel rubbed the back of his neck nervously.  “Hey kids…  So uh…  About Ray’s little “problem”?” he said quietly to them, whispering  into both their ears, as he watched out for Lindsay’s return from the staircase.

+

Spir’s beach was a ghost beach.  With the exception of a few older couples snoozing on beach chairs, Lindsay, Ray, and Ray’s friends were the only ones on the beach.

Michael hadn’t changed at all, only removing his tank top as they all waded in the water.

Underneath her sundress, Tina was sporting a one piece black swimsuit that was cut perfectly to match her body.  

Lindsay opted for a yellow bikini, but had covered it with a white jacket.

Much like Michael, Ray was shirtless and wearing a Nintendo-themed pair of trunks.  While Michael was swimming countless laps out in the ocean with Ray spotting for undertows, Tina and Lindsay were wading in the shallow end.

“So you’re staying here while your mom and dad travels?  That’s pretty cool!  So do you know Ray’s dad and Ray really well?” Tina asked.

Lindsay shook her head.  “Meh, not really.  They came and visited every few years, but that stopped after Mrs. Heyman died.  I guess it was too hard to get away raising a child as a single parent,” she said, frowning.  “I lost touch with them after that.  Well, until now, of course,” she replied.

“Well, nice to have you here!  Spir is a small town, but it’s awesome to stay when the tourists are gone!  It’s so peaceful and quiet, and there’s so much fun stuff to-” Tina remarked, waving her hands in an exaggerated fashion.

“You’re bullshitting me, aren’t you?” Lindsay asked.

“Yep,” Tina replied, sighing heavily.  “Truth be told…  If it wasn’t for the beach, we’d have nothing to do.  I mean, there is some really cool stuff around here, but…  Just for tourists.  For us?  Nothing.  It doesn’t help anything that there’s like nobody at school who wants to do anything!  I’m lucky if my friend Barbara wants to go out at night.  Most of the time, we all just go home or watch TV until we meld into the couch.  What about you?  Are you a couch potato, or are you more of a outside kind of gal?,” she asked happily.

Giving Tina a gigantic thumbs up, Lindsay grinned.  “Hey, no worries!  We’ll find fun stuff to do, I’m an outside girl too!” she exclaimed.

Tina feigned a smile, but nodded.  “Yeah, I guess we will,” she replied.

“Friends?” Lindsay asked.  She held out her hand towards Tina.

Tina eagerly accepted her hand and shook it tightly.  “Definitely friends!  We’ll just need to get you a fake ID,” she said happily.

Again, a spark-like static shocked Lindsay’s hand, making her and Tina both leap up at the sensation.

Before they could both adequately remark about the static electricity, another sound caught their attention.

“AH!  LET GO OF ME!” Michael shouted.

Tina and Lindsay immediately turned to the outer parts of the ocean.  Michael was struggling to stay afloat, paddling his arms swiftly.  Ray was swimming out towards him, yelling something.

“What’s wrong?” Lindsay asked.

Tina shook her head.  “I don’t know!  God, he better not be kidding about this shit or I’ll drown him myself.  Come on,” she said, standing up and diving under water in one smooth movement.  Lindsay followed suit, chucking her jacket away to the sandy beach and swimming right behind Tina.  

As the two got closer and closer, they spotted what the issue was.  Some black sludgy thing had grabbed onto Michael and got him stuck.  Likely seaweed or something, but it was trying to pull Michael out to sea and under the water’s waves.

“LET GO YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!” Michael said, kicking and flailing in the water.  It was getting harder and harder for him to keep his head above water.  But as Ray reached him, Michael had something else to hold on to to keep afloat.

Tina and Lindsay weren’t far behind, and the three of them all grabbed Michael by his broad shoulders and pulled with all their strength.

“HEAVE!” Lindsay shouted.

“HO!” Tina exclaimed.

Even with their combined strength on top of Ray’s, they weren’t getting anywhere.

“What is this, like SuperSeaWeed?” Michael shouted.  Even with his friends’ help, Michael’s mouth and nose were getting closer and closer to the water, and their “pull” was getting weaker and weaker.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Tina shouted.

Then, in an instant, Michael’s head went under.

“MICHAEL!” Ray shouted, struggling with every muscle in his body to bring Michael back up.

They weren’t getting anywhere.

Bubbles started to erupt from underwater.

“NO!  PULL HARDER!  COME ON GUYS!” Tina shouted.

Michael’s hand slipped out of Lindsay’s.  Tina and Ray flung backwards as Michael’s body was pulled deeper into the water.

Lindsay froze.  From under the water’s depth, she could see Michael going deeper and deeper into the water.  His hands were grabbing up towards her.

“MICHAEL!” Tina shrieked, diving underneath the water deeper.  Though as she did, another hand of black goo slapped her backwards, out of the water and into the air.  

A spark ran through Lindsay’s chest.

“Thou art I.  I art thou.  From the sea of thou soul I am born,” a deep voice echoed.  It was a woman’s voice.  Dark, commanding, and powerful.

Floating above Lindsay’s head was the card that Igor had held the night before.  The black side of the card shattered slowly revealing the figure of a goddess.  A woman draped all in black, holding a pearl-white spear in one hand, and a gallant red shield in the other.  Bright white wings erupted from her back.  A “0” was prominently displayed on the bottom of the card.

A voiced echoed within Lindsay’s mind.

 _Per...so….na…_.

She reached up out of the water.  “Pallas Athena…  PERSONA, COME!” Lindsay shouted.  She crushed the card in her hands, shattering it into glass.

A bright symbol erupted under the water, and forming above Lindsay’s was the goddess Pallas Athena, just as she had appeared on the card.  She was a good two feet taller than Lindsay.

“Holy shit…  What..  What the actual fuck?!” Ray stammered out.  Tina looked on in awe as well.  Both watched from the depths of the water.

Looking around, Lindsay spotted the other beachgoers that had gathered around to see the spectacle unfold.  They were frozen in time, surrounded by a bright blue glow.  

Standing behind the crowd was Facade, watching on with his arms folded.  His mask’s symbols were glowing a vibrant red, as waves of energy poured off of his body.

“And you’re waiting for what exactly?  It takes a lot of magic to stop time, you know,” Facade asked.

“Oh…  Right!  Uh..  Help?” Lindsay asked politely towards Athena

Athena turned away from Lindsay and pointed her spear into the water.  A column of light came down from the heavens and shot into the ocean where Michael had gone under.    

Before anything else happened, hundreds of tendrils shout out of the ocean and started to shoot towards Athena and Lindsay.  Raising up her shield, Athena grunted.  A bright seal erupted from her shield, and each tendril that touched it evaporated into dust, and dissolving into nothingness.  

Erupting from the ocean, a blob covered in a bright blue mask rose on the top of the ocean floor.  Michael was wrapped in one of its tendrils, having long since passed out from lack of oxygen.

Lindsay gasped.  “ATHENA, save him!” she begged.

Lowering her barrier, Athena’s wings unfurled.  She flew towards the shadowy beast.  With spear in hand, she deftly dodged each and every one of the many tendrils that shot her way.  Her spear cut through the hand that was crushing Michael, and made the lad fall towards the ocean.  Athena kicked off the Shadow and flew towards Michael.  She caught him easily, cradling him against her shield.  

“Michael!  He’s safe!” Ray shouted, with a great deal of relief.

“Athena, finish it!” Lindsay shouted.

Nodding, Lindsay’s goddess held her spear like a javelin.  Rearing back, she threw it with as much force as she could manage.  The lance split through the beast’s mask as though it were a thin wafer, and the monster squealed in agony.

The mask crumbled, and the Shadow began melting into the ocean, vanishing into the sky like dust.

Lindsay saw something fall into the ocean from the beast’s mask.  Even from far away, it appeared to be a set of two silver rings.

++++

Michael struggled to wake back up.  The last thing he’d seen was his hands slipping out of his friends’ grasp.  He remembered the sensation of his last breath of air, and the water filling up his lungs.

_Michael…  I’m here for you.  Come.  Come with me.  We’ll be together again.  Together and happy._

Those words, so warm and honeyed had made him stop struggling in the water.  They were _his_ after all

His eyes fluttered open.  Ray, Tina, and that new girl Lindsay was standing over him.

“What do you mean you don’t know how you summoned a GODDESS?!  I would think that you’d know how to do that!” Ray shouted.

Lindsay groaned to herself.  “I don’t know!  I had a crazy dream, moved here, and now I can apparently summon Athena!  What do you want from me, this isn’t normal for me!” she yelled back.

Huffing, Ray shook his head.  “Well WHATEVER we do, we cannot tell dad!  We especialy cannot tell anyone else, or they’d throw us in the loony bin!  

Slowly, Michael rose up and rubbed the back of his head.  “God…  What happened?” Michael said, coughing out another fine spray of water.

“Michael!  You’re awake!” Ray said, hugging Michael tightly.

Tina turned to Lindsay.  “You want to tell him about your uber-powers and that weird tentacle monster that attacked him, or should I?” she asked.

“Yes, because I love telling the story of Super Tentacle Hentai Porn on the Beach to someone I just met.  Yay, fun,” Lindsay mumbled sarcastically.

Ignoring all of their ramblings, Michael glanced down at his lap.  The bottom half of his body was covered in the coat that Lindsay had been wearing earlier in the day.

“Why am I under Lindsay’s coat?” Michael asked, bypassing everything else.

Tina and Lindsay turned away, blushing.

Ray cleared his throat.  “Well, uh..  Buddy?  That thing sort of…  Kind of…  Well, it…” he mumbled, unable to get the words out.

Tina snorted to herself.  “The monster thing pulled off your trunks, so you’re showing the full monty right now,” she said humorously.

Turning a beet red, Michael threw his hands to cover his crotch.  Sure enough, underneath the very thin white fabric, combined with the wetness, all of “little Michael” was visible for the world to see.  His left asscheck was hanging out on the other side as well.

“WHY AM I NAKED?!” Michael shrieked.

Tina sighed.  “It’s a long story…” she mumbled.

 

 

 


End file.
